The lower back is one of the weakest points of the human body. There are many situations in which a worker is required to repeatedly bend over or stoop to pick up an object from ground level. This situation is commonly seen in the agriculture industry where workers frequently have to bend over repetitively for several hours at a time. This type of work may result in the development of chronic back pain or repetitive strain injury.
Prior art devices have attempted to address this problem. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,784, Holmes describes a device which supports a person's upper torso weight when kneeling or stooping. However, this device must be inserted into the ground near where a person works, and therefore, must be moved and reinserted into the ground every time the worker changes location. This is a disadvantage for a user who needs to move frequently.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,409 discloses a harvest machine which a user moves along the ground using wheels. A worker is supported by harnesses that hang from the top of a vertical frame. The vertical frame is attached to another frame parallel to the ground which has wheels attached. The wheels allow for the person to move the machine only in a straight line while working. The machine is bulky and must move to wherever the user wishes to work. Therefore, it would be inconvenient or impossible to use in difficult terrain or if the user needed relatively fine control over his or her motion, or if the user needs to move frequently or in a more random pattern. Work is further impaired if the worker must travel a long distance between different work sites since the worker must pull the cart.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,259,833; 4,829,989; and 5,176,622 are all examples of devices that are attached only to the worker's body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,833 illustrates an apparatus that prevents the body from bending inappropriately while in use. However, it restricts all rotation and only allows the user to bend forward and does not provide any additional support to the back. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,989 and No. 5,176,622 are examples of devices attached only to the hip of the worker and function by pressing simultaneously up against the chest and down against upper legs of the worker when the worker is bent forward. However, when the person is completely upright, the support pieces remain in front of the legs and chest and would interfere with normal walking.